Messer appoints Peter Mohnen as CEO and restructures European leadership
- Peter Mohnen will become CEO effective July 1, 2026 and will resign his Supervisory Board seat to take the role.
- Virginia Esly will leave as COO Europe on June 30, 2026; Matthias Thiele will assume the COO Europe role on July 1, 2026.
- Messer’s European region reported approximately €1.3 billion in revenues and a significant EBITDA increase under Esly.
- Outgoing CEO Bernd Eulitz led the acquisition of Messer Americas shares from CVC, secured GIC as a minority investor, and enacted key refinancing and governance harmonisation.
Planned CEO transition
Bernd Eulitz, Deputy CEO since February 2022 and CEO since April 2023, will retire upon the expiration of his term. During his tenure he oversaw the acquisition of the shares in Messer Americas from CVC, recruited the global long-term investor GIC as a minority shareholder, implemented key refinancing measures and brought global teams together under harmonised governance structures.
Incoming CEO
Effective July 1, 2026, Peter Mohnen will assume the role of CEO and will resign from Messer’s Supervisory Board upon taking office. Mohnen has more than 30 years of international leadership experience and served as CEO of KUKA from 2018 to 2025. The company says he will preserve Messer’s family-owned strengths while driving sustainable development in close coordination with the owner family.
European leadership changes
Virginia Esly will leave the company as of June 30, 2026 after integrating the three European regions and improving performance, safety culture, process excellence and digital transformation. Under her direction the European business achieved roughly €1.3 billion in revenues and a significant EBITDA increase. Matthias Thiele, Messer CMO since January 2026 with over 40 years at the company, will become COO Europe on July 1, 2026 and report to CEO Peter Mohnen.
Strategy and values
With the new leadership structure Messer reaffirms its commitment to remain an independent, family-owned company guided by long-term thinking, reliability and values including trust, integrity, responsibility and entrepreneurial spirit. The company states it is financially sound and organisationally strong and will use the leadership changes to take the next step.
Source: Messer
